The Labor Department deployed a “strike team” to California to address federal findings of improper payments and alleged fraud within the state\u2019s unemployment insurance (UI) program.<\/p>\n
California has been found to have a depleted UI trust fund, along with $21 billion in borrowed federal funds to keep the system running \u2014 which federal officials say has led state employers to pay higher UI taxes to repay the debt.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the department cited an 83-page California State Auditor report that determined the state\u2019s UI system is high-risk, in part due to “inadequate fraud prevention and claimant service [in its employment development department (EDD)], as well as a high rate of overturned eligibility decisions in its Unemployment Insurance Program.”<\/p>\n
EXCLUSIVE: SENATE BILL TARGETS MINNESOTA-STYLE \u2018RUNAWAY FRAUD\u2019 TO FORCE SCAMMERS REPAY TAXPAYERS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “Financial issues and potential fraud in California\u2019s unemployment insurance program will be fully examined. The previous administration turned a blind eye toward failing Labor programs: This ends now,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said.<\/p>\n “Immediately, we are engaging a specialized strike team to uncover any potential fraud or abuse and quickly moving to protect the American worker and taxpayers. I look forward to restoring the California UI program\u2019s integrity and financial health.”<\/p>\n Chavez-DeRemer added that the “strike team” will include Labor Department specialists from both its national and regional offices.<\/p>\n The secretary also wrote a letter to the EDD, citing increasing improper payment rates, insufficient timeliness, data accuracy and quality concerns, and questions about participants\u2019 eligibility and the use of taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n California received about $290 billion in COVID relief, part of, part of which helped what the California Post<\/a> described as “rapidly implementing expanded unemployment benefits.”<\/p>\n FEDERAL PROSECUTOR CALLS NEWSOM ‘KING OF FRAUD’ AS TRUMP LAUNCHES CALIFORNIA CORRUPTION PROBE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n At least one California UI steward was convicted of using her position to file nearly $860,000 in fraudulent UI claims,<\/a> while some civilians were convicted of creating nonexistent businesses to claim UI.<\/p>\n Just prior to the strike team\u2019s deployment, DOL Inspector General Anthony D\u2019Esposito said he found nearly $1 billion in taxpayer funds “at risk” nationwide due to COVID-related UI fraud.<\/p>\n D\u2019Esposito, a former NYPD officer and ex-congressman from Long Island, said in a statement that an analysis of 6.5 million prepaid debit cards used for COVID UI benefits still had $720 million loaded on them.<\/p>\n WALZ\u2019S MINNESOTA MESS COULD SPARK THE TOUGHEST FRAUD REFORMS IN DECADES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “My office has warned that, absent swift action, U.S. taxpayers risk losing nearly a billion dollars in fraudulently obtained benefits,” D\u2019Esposito said in a statement.<\/p>\n “This is taxpayer money \u2014 and it demands immediate attention.”<\/p>\n D\u2019Esposito said fraud is not a victimless crime<\/a> and that every misspent dollar is one that an actual needy family could use.<\/p>\n “When we root out fraud, we protect taxpayers and lower the real cost of living,” he said.<\/p>\n Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom and the state Senate\u2019s top Republican for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Labor Department deployed a “strike team” to California to address federal findings of improper payments and alleged fraud within the state\u2019s unemployment insurance (UI) program. California has been found to have a depleted UI trust fund, along with $21 billion in borrowed federal funds to keep the system running \u2014 which federal officials say … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}